Probably a dumb question—but does anyone know if your cell phone can be tracked when it’s turned off?
Only 2 malls???
Why would anyone believe only 2 are doing this if they all have the ability to do so; and how long have they been doing this?
Semper Suspicious!
*****
I bet a lot of malls are preparing for either flash mobs or OWS protesters, both which will use cellphones for coordination of attacks.
Advice for Black Friday, stay home.
Having accurate, reliable info about customers is good for business. The cell phone thing creeps me out a little, but I can see why the data would help a sector that's having trouble.
Leni
On the bright side, this sort of thing could come in handy if you’re ever lost or kidnapped. As I rarely wander out of West Hollywood, however, and am no longer a hot young thing, neither is likely to happen to me, so I often leave the little tool-of-satan at home. Maybe it’ll be an alibi someday. “No, no, your honor. According to my cell phone signal, I was at home the night all those fancy chocolate bars vanished from the exclusive and very expensive boutique temptingly near my house.”
It’s important to put the data that cellphones provide in context with all the other data gathering going on constantly.
For example, if you are wearing new clothing or accessories, they likely contain several RFID chips. And as you pass through a “loss prevention” gate at the entrance to the store, it doesn’t just detect inventory that hasn’t been paid for, but it also detects what is likely to be your unique RFID signature of several chips.
The store database also knows who you are from your credit card, and what you purchased, so it knows when you, personally, left the store.
Not really on the subject of cell phones, but I don’t understand the whole Black Friday phenomenon. Thanksgiving should be about being with family and friends, pausing to give thanks, and a well earned rest from the normal frantic pace of life. Instead people camp out in front of Best Buy and Walmart to shop at midnight to save $50 bucks. I just don’t get it.If they were giving away free TV’s and computers I wouldn’t do that. My time is worth too much to me.
Its capitalism. If stores want to open and people want to line up like sheep I guess thats their right. But it would be nice if the holiday wasn’t so much about consumerism. Maybe after the Second American Revolution, we’ll return to a more traditional set of values.
This isn't the first I'm hearing about this, either. I believe some high-end retailers in New York City began doing this some time ago. What makes the NYC story so interesting is that they're allegedly tracking people walking outside the stores. So you may be tracked even if you're just walking to work.